


The Blinding Light of Hope

by Geminihilist



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Blind Keith, Blindness, Fluff and Angst, Minor Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-08
Updated: 2018-01-05
Packaged: 2018-08-07 08:43:05
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,107
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7708471
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Geminihilist/pseuds/Geminihilist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>If one of the paladins loses their sight, will the rest of the universe lose their last shred of hope?<br/>(Will be updated soon!)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

_“We have to get to our lions, come on!” Keith grabbed Lance’s wrist, practically dragging him as he sprinted towards the castle. The others were ahead of them, already close enough to call their lions for help. He quickly stopped when a blast from the beast blew up the ground in front of them, sending both boys into a coughing fit._

_The dust provided cover for the two of them, but also made it nigh impossible to see a thing to any direction further than a couple of feet. Only then did he realize his grip on Lance’s wrist had disappeared and the taller paladin was nowhere to be seen. “Lance? Lance? Where the quiznak are yo-” A strangled yelp punctuated his sentence, a product of something slamming into his head and sending his helmet flying._

_His hand flew to cover his eyes, shielding them from the dust that had yet to fully settle around them. He turned his head when he heard the roars of the lions, cursing to himself about needing to get close enough for his lion to reach him. Just when the team needed him most, and he was too far away to do anything._

_Something passed by him, seeming only a shadow that zipped by without a thought to him. He whirled around, moving to activate his bayard to give him some protection and a chance to fight. The action was too slow, however, and before he knew it there was a searing pain in his arm that got rid of any chance of him doing that. “What the f-Ah!”_

_A similar pain followed a path from one hip to the other shoulder, the feeling of blood escaping sending worry and panic through him. He focused his energy on summoning his lion, knowing it could come to help without him inside. Another strike made him drop to his knees, the enemy either invisible or too fast for him to even see quite yet._

_He finally caught a glance of what was attacking him, only processing the bright purple glow of long, sharp claws that seemed almost like talons. That was his last sight, though, before his vision went black with that same searing pain in two clean lines across his face._

_He hit the ground with a solid thump, feeling himself fade as indistinct shouts reached his ears from somewhere around him. A couple of shots from what sounded like a gun broke through, followed by the feeling of someone grabbing and lifting him. “Oh god, Keith, can you hear me? Hang on, okay? Shiro is coming, I see his lion. Just stay…”_

_That was all he heard before he passed out, deadweight in the arms of his comrade in arms._

* * *

 

“When’s he gonna wake up? He’s been in there even longer than I was after the castle was taken over.” Lance frowned, genuinely worried about how long it was taking for Keith to heal inside the cryopod. Sure his wounds hadn’t looked good when he found him, but he didn’t think they were as bad as they seemed to be.

Allura gently shook her head, sighing softly as she looked to him. “I believe his wounds go deeper than yours had. Your armor had provided much more protection, but there were tears in his. I’ve never seen something like that before in paladin armor.” She turned her head when she felt pressure on her shoulder, looking up to see Shiro’s hand there to comfort her.

“He’ll be alright. Keith is one of the toughest kids I’ve met, and nothing is going to keep him out of commission for too long.” He gave her a smile, knowing that she needed the reassurance. All hope she had would be lost if a paladin were no longer able to perform his duties with the utmost ability, no longer able to defend the universe against Zarkon.

A small nod was her response, giving him a tiny smile before turning to leave the room. “Coran, fetch me when the pod opens.” Then she was gone, heading off to have just a few minutes to herself. Shiro watched her go, acknowledging the fact that having any of the paladins injured was trying on her.

Time passed by, paladins pacing around as they waited for the pod to release Keith. Hunk left to make them some sort of meal, figuring his friend would want some after waking up. Pidge went with, not really wanting him to be alone. Shiro didn’t leave, but he went off to the side with Coran to talk more in depth about how the cryopods really worked, mostly as a distraction. Lance was steadfast in staying put in front of the pod, feeling somewhat at fault for Keith’s injuries.

He remembered it clearly, at least as clearly as he could from the dust that took far too long to settle. The sounds of Keith’s pained cries, the helmet crashing down only a few feet away, the _swish_ of the creature dashing so quickly it was hardly even there, the very solid _thump_ of Keith hitting the ground. It came back to him each night since, and even when he wasn’t sleeping. His mind added images to it, putting a clear picture to the damage done to his friend.

Sleep hadn’t come easily to him again yet, even with his usual calming music and relaxing bedtime routine, and it was entirely the fault of those memories and images he tried so hard to not think about. It left him drained and any training he’d attempted to do ended with him getting beat and bruised up, if it didn’t just remind him more of Keith. The paladin had always been the first one to the training deck in the mornings and it wasn’t the same without him there.

He refocused his gaze on the cryopod when he heard it opening up, gasping a little as he rushed over. “Keith!” Almost immediately, the red paladin fell into his arms, legs still just a bit wobbly from the cryopod. “Oh my goodness, are you alright?”

There were two very obvious scars that went clear across his face, neither sparing him at all. His body was covered with a blank white suit, covering any lasting damage that might still be present. He turned his head a bit, gripping onto Lance’s jacket for balance. “Lance? What happened..?”

Just hearing his voice made Lance a bit giddy, though he wanted to make sure Keith was comfortable and didn’t have to support himself. “I’ll explain in a minute. Coran, can you get everyone to meet up in the big community space thing?” I’m gonna bring Keith over there.”

A nod was the only response he got before he left the room with his teammate’s arm around his shoulders for support, heading straight there. “We were in this super intense fight on a planet, but we were too far away for the lions to get us, then this _thing_ ambushed us, oh yeah you were like, dragging me behind you, it was super annoying, and I couldn’t see a thing because of this dust cloud…” He rambled on, describing in the least gruesome way possible what had happened. He suddenly stopped, realizing something in the middle of his great run-on sentence. “You’re kind of lagging behind a bit. Am I going too fast?”

Keith shook his head a bit, blinking a little at their break. “No, the pace is fine. It’s just that I, uh…” he swallowed, finding a blunt but slight gentle way to put it. “I don’t think I can see.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sooo sorry this took so long! I know some of you have been waiting for this for ages (I have been too) but school and life got in the way. Here it is, though! I hope you enjoy, and I'll do my best to be quicker about the next chapter to come!

_ “I, uh… I don’t think I can see.” _

The sentence caused Lance to freeze, almost losing his grip on the other as he processed what he’d said. “Like, you can’t see as in ‘I’m really weak right now and keeping my eyes open is really hard’ can’t see?” He knew by the look on Keith’s face that he was wrong even as he said it, just hoping for it to be true.

Keith shook his head, biting his lip before sighing. “Can’t see as in ‘I think the monster fucked up my eyes and I’m totally blind now’ can’t see.” He leaned a bit more heavily on Lance, closing his eyes as he waited for a response. No point keeping them open anyway if it served no purpose.

“We should tell the others, as soon as possible. Maybe Allura or Coran know how to fix it. They have loads more experience and know way more about all this stuff than we do, right?” He was gently tugging him along again, wanting to get to the group space as soon as they could. It wasn’t right to keep the others waiting, not when something like this was happening.

There wasn’t a chance for Keith to respond with more than a single soft sound before they were off again, faster this time in Lance’s new rush to get there. He knew it was difficult for Keith to be sure of where they were going, but having one of the paladins go  _ blind  _ was something that needed to be addressed sooner rather than later.

“Lance, slow down, jeez.” Keith tried to drag his feet a bit to get him to slow the pace down a bit, having trouble keeping up with him. “Stupid long legs, tall idiot…” He held tightly onto him nonetheless, lost without some reference point.

The first response he got was a laugh as Lance slowed the pace, not wanting to rush him too much despite wanting to hurry. “Sorry, I forget. Do you need me to carry you instead?” It was a legitimate question, as the blue paladin was rather concerned about him so recently out of the healing pod.

There was a moment of consideration before Keith shook his head, just keeping his hold on the other. “No, just a little slower with the walking. Didn’t Coran say that walking helps get the feeling back quicker?” He wasn’t really sure if that was true or not, considering it was Coran that said it, but it was the best excuse he had at the moment.

Lance didn’t really want to slow down, but he’d do whatever made Keith most comfortable just then. “Yeah, of course. I know I’m trying to get there quick, but we can stop by your room on the way if you want to change into actual clothes. These healing suits aren’t the most comfortable.” He was nervous, wanting to hide it by being helpful and rambling a bit to take their minds off the fact that Keith had lost his sight.

“Real clothes sound nice, yeah. I can wait until after the meeting for a shower, though.” Keith figured a small break to sit and rest his legs even just on the way there would be nice. It wasn’t painful, but his legs felt far too sore for how little he’d been moving around. “How long was I in the pod for?”

It took a moment of thought, but Lance decided that telling him all about it should wait until everyone was together. “We can go over that once we meet up with the rest of the team, okay? It was kind of long, though, and we were all worried about you.”

The fact that he’d spent long enough in the healing pod to make Lance seriously worry about him made him concerned about how badly he’d gotten injured, not quite remembering the end of the mission clearly. Obviously he’d gotten hurt far worse than the others during the mission, but it wasn’t obvious how much worse yet. Things were hard for him to notice properly like this, and he depended on others a lot now.

The pair soon made their way to Keith’s bedroom, Lance guiding his hand so he could open the door for them. Keith was sat on the bed, hearing the rustle of his closet opening and clothes being looked through.

It was a moment before Lance gently touched his shoulder, letting him know he was there. “Hey, I just grabbed you some pajamas so you’re comfortable. Do you want me to dress you, or do you think you can do it on your own?” He didn’t know just how to act with taking care of Keith like this, so he fell back into how he talked to his younger siblings when they got hurt.

Keith took a second to consider his choices. “I can do it myself, just give me the clothes.” He held out his hands, feeling the soft fabric fall into his grasp. “Thanks,” he mumbled, carefully getting to his feet before starting to undress himself. Privacy wasn’t much of a concern for him, but he could hear Lance shifting around and likely averting his gaze.

Everything went fine up until he was pulling the pajama bottoms on, trying to do it standing up like he was used to. Apparently losing his sight messed up his balance, though, and he went toppling to the ground with the pants around his ankles.

“Keith! Oh my god, are you alright?” Lance dropped to his knees next to him, helping him up and getting him back onto the bed. “Did you trip on the pants?”

He shook his head, groaning a bit. “No… Just lost my balance is all.” His shoulder started hurting from the fall, but Lance didn’t need to know that. There was already too much for him to worry about, a hurt shoulder nothing to all of that.

Lance sighed, shaking his head a bit as he moved to finish getting Keith dressed. “The pods can do that to you, yeah. You’ll feel better soon, I’m sure of it.” He gently patted his cheek before buttoning up the pajama shirt. It was loose on his frame, but still warm and soft against him. “Ready to go meet up with the others?”

A moment’s hesitation, then a nod from Keith. “Yeah, just need a moment to recover and brace myself. Thanks.” He ran a hand over his face, taking a few measured breaths before holding out his arms. “Help me up, let’s go.”

Lance grabbed his hands to pull him up, then changed his mind and ran his hands down his arms to instead scoop him into his arms like a princess. “This will be easier for you, promise. No need to rely on my sight for right now.”

The sudden actioned caused Keith to grip onto him tightly, curling close out of instinct so he would be dropped. “Just… put me down when we get there. I don’t like being carried.” That wasn’t entirely true. He did like being carried, and he would’ve killed to be carried around before. Only now, without his sight, it was putting far more trust in one person than he was comfortable with. He had to trust Lance not to drop him, or go too fast, or run into anything, or do anything else to risk his safety, and he wasn’t sure if he could do that just then.

“It’ll only be a minute, promise. You’re safe with me,” Lance murmured, pressing his cheek to Keith’s forehead to comfort him. “Just hold on, we’ll go quick enough. Tell me if I need to slow down.” He started out of the room, keeping a secure hold on him so he wouldn’t fall.

It was all fine until Keith gripped tighter onto him, squeezing his eyes shut from habit. “S-Slow down! Slow down!” He didn’t relax until Lance walked a bit slower, letting out a soft breath. “Thanks…

Lance gave him a gentle look, going slow enough to keep Keith calm. “Sorry buddy, didn’t realize I was speeding. I’ll take it easy from now on, just for you.” There were so many differences between carrying his siblings and carrying the now-blind paladin, it was a bit of a shock to him just how careful he had to be.

After that, it didn’t take long for them to get to the lounge area to meet up with the rest of the team. Shiro was immediately out of his pacing to go over to them, concern clear on his face. “Keith, are you alright? Did something happen on the way here?” He was looking over Keith’s face, gently touching the scars crossing his eyes. “Keith..?”

Keith swallowed a bit, flinching slightly from the unexpected touch to his face. “I… I’m fine. Still a bit wobbly from the pod, so Lance carried me…” His tone made it pretty obvious he wasn’t fully telling the truth, but he didn’t want to just put it out there so suddenly. “Lance, can we sit down?”

That snapped Lance from his temporary lapse of attention, nodding as he moved them over to the couch. He gently set him down, sitting next to him to keep contact with him. “There we go. Are you comfortable like this? Do you need anything?”

He shook his head, rubbing one of his eyes before slowly opening them. Still pure black. “No, I’m fine… Is everyone all here?”

Hearing his question sent a bit of confusion around the room, people sharing glances before looking back at Keith. It was Hunk who spoke up this time. “Yeah, we’re all here. Are you having trouble seeing?”

“Yeah, your eyes took quite the beating,” Pidge piped up, leaning forward before narrowing her eyes. “Even the pod didn’t get the scars even nearly faint.”

Keith swallowed a bit, fumbling to try and grab Lance’s hand for comfort. It took him a minute to muster up the courage to actually talk, voice shaky even once he’d had a bit of time to get ready. “I… I can’t see at all. I-I remember getting slashed in the arm, a-and my face, but that’s all.”

Silence filled the room for a long moment before Shiro spoke up, looking right to Keith. “We’ll be here for you, Keith. We’re ready to support you however you need us to.”

Allura nodded in response to what Shiro said, folding her hands in her lap. “Of course. Until you are more used to your current condition, I can take over your duties as pala-”

“No!” Keith stood quickly, nearly stumbling at the sudden rush. “I can still pilot Red! She trusts me more than anyone, and no one else can pilot her!” Tears were welling up in his eyes at the very idea of it, hands balled into tight fists at his sides. “She’s mine, okay?”

Lance gently pulled Keith back down onto the couch, wrapping an arm around his shoulders to help comfort him and to keep him sitting. “Shh, no one is going to take her from you.” He sent a look at Allura, silently berating her for saying that. “It might be best to take a few days to rest and recover, though.”

The rest of the room was in slight shock from his outburst, though Shiro stood up and let out a small breath. “I’ll go get your room ready for you. It’s still a bit messy from before that mission.” He left no room for a response before he was gone, door sliding shut behind him.

No one said or did anything for a few moments after that, most of the room looking down or at the others for some sort of idea of how to break the tension. It was Keith that moved first, getting back onto his feet and felt around for a minute before heading to the door. “I’m going.”

Lance glanced at the others, seeing Hunk mouth, “Go with him,” before jumping up and going after the other. He grabbed his hand once they were out of the room, falling into step next to him. “Hey, relax a bit. We’re all just trying to look out for you, and you know how Allura can get. She was trying to make things easier on you.”

“I don’t care what she was trying to do. All she was doing was taking away one of the last things I even have for myself. How could that possibly help me?” Tears dripped from his eyes now, pulling his hand out of Lance’s grasp. “My whole life has been losing everything and everyone important to me, and I’ll only give up Red when you’re prying my dead body from her!”

That stunned him for a moment, expression softening as he pulled Keith into a hug. “You’ll always have Red, Keith. You’ll have her, and the rest of the team, and someday we’ll get back to Earth and you’ll have that too. I will make sure of that, I swear on my life.”

Keith just about broke down into his arms, gripping onto his jacket. “I-I just can’t lose more… I can’t…”

“Shh, shh, it’s okay.” Lance gently picked him up, carrying him down the hall towards his bedroom. “Let it out, no need to keep it all in. I’m here for you.” He kept telling him calming words as they went, glad once he was able to open the door to Keith’s room only to freeze at the sight that greeted him.


	3. Chapter 3

The room was a mess when they walked in, Keith’s blankets thrown around and his pillow nearly shredded. Part of a blanket was even burned, and there were charred marks on the wall by where it was thrown. Keith couldn’t see any of it, but he was confused upon their stopping. “Lance? Is something wrong?”

That knocked Lance out of his small trance, shaking his head. “No, nothing’s wrong. I’m just a bit out of it and went to the wrong room. Yours is next door.” He pulled him out of the room, taking him down the hall to Lance’s own room. “There we go.”

Keith didn’t quite believe him, but he accepted the answer well enough. “Oh, okay. Um, can you help me over to the bed?” He squeezed Lance’s arm, just about clinging to him as he was led to the bed to lay down.

“Yeah, yeah, of course.” Lance laid him on the bed, gently brushing back his hair as he settled down. “I’m going to go make sure everything is okay with the others, okay? I’ll be right back.” He gave his hand a squeeze, as if a promise that he would be back quickly.

He quickly shook his head, gripping his hand tighter. “Stay here, don’t leave me alone. Not until I’m asleep, at least. Please.” His voice was begging, like he couldn’t handle being alone for even a second.

The sight was pitiful to Lance, making his heart ache at what had happened to Keith. “I’ll be right here, holding your hand. I’m going to check on the others once you’re asleep, but not before at all. I promise you that.”

It was a while before Keith fell asleep, letting go of Lance’s hand as he drifted off. That was his cue to leave, kissing the back of his hand before standing and leaving the room.

Now his focus was right back on what the  _ hell _ happened to Keith’s room. He paced the hallway a bit, thinking over it. “What the fuck? What the hell did that to his stuff?” He groaned, running his hands through his hair. “The mice couldn’t do it…”

Lance shook his head to clear it, walking out to Keith’s room to inspect the damage. He slid open the door, stepping inside and taking another look around. The total disarray of the room was haunting to him as he moved around, picking up everything that was on the floor and either putting it in its place or in a pile to toss and replace.

He lifted the torn pillow, frowning at the tattered looked of it. That was when he saw a scorch mark in the shape of a hand, something clicking in his mind. “Oh no. Oh no, oh no, oh no.”

Shiro. Something happened and Shiro had done this. That was not good at all, and Lance knew it. That’s why he hurried to their leader’s room, knocking on the door. “Shiro? Shiro, it’s Lance. Can I talk to you?”

A few moments of silence passed before he even got an answer, and it was obvious by his voice that Shiro wasn’t in the best state. “Yeah, door’s open.”

Lance stepped into the room, shutting the door behind him as his gaze landed on Shiro. His hair was disheveled, sweating and holding his Galra arm in the corner of his room. “Hey… What’s wrong, man?”

It took a moment for Shiro to manage to respond, taking a deep breath to try and calm himself down. “Keith… His outburst…” He knew that it was a reasonable thing to happen, that Keith was too prideful to peacefully step down and not fight for it. That didn’t mean the yelling and anger in his voice wouldn’t set Shiro off, sending him teetering on the edge of the arena he so wanted to just forget.

Most of that made sense to Lance, and he quietly made his way over to kneel a couple feet from Shiro. “I understand, Shiro. You’ve been through a lot. We’re never gonna hurt you on the ship, though. Least of all Keith. He cares about you more than himself, that’s pretty obvious.”

Shiro nodded slowly, gradually relaxing as he listened to Lance’s calm voice. “Yeah… I need to… to clean up his room…” Even if Keith couldn’t see it, that just made it more important to have things in their place. He had to rely almost entirely on touch and sound now, something that would take a lot of practice.

“Hey, don’t worry about that. I already got most of it cleaned up, and I’m gonna get him some fresh sheets and stuff so everything is alright. You don’t need to do anything but calm down, maybe get some water, okay?”

That seemed to help soothe him, and he slowly gave Lance another nod. “Yeah, okay… Don’t tell the others about this, okay? Especially not Keith…”

Lance bit his lip, seeming a bit unsure about that. “Shiro, if it’s gonna make you react like this, we should rea-”

“No. Don’t tell them. If it happens again, then maybe. Keith is a more urgent matter, and he needs our focus.” Shiro stood up, running a hand down his face before sighing. “I’m going to go check on the others, make sure they’re handling everything alright. How’s Keith doing?”

Lance hesitated for a moment, feeling a small pang of sadness at the thought of Keith’s condition. “He’s managing alright. I helped him get down for a nap in my room so I could get his cleaned up. I think all of this is scary for him, though. He sounded so worried when I had to leave…”

“We’ll find a way to make it right for him. Go take care of his room, and keep an eye on him. I’ll get a rotation started so we can take turns with him, but he seems happy with you for now.” Shiro nudged Lance towards the door, heading out as well to take care of what he said he would. It was at least something to keep him distracted from his own mental state.

Lance sighed, following him out before splitting off in the hallway. So many things were happening for him, and so many reasons for him to lose what hope he had left. Now that Keith was out of commission indefinitely, he wasn’t sure how they could defeat Zarkon. If they couldn’t defeat Zarkon, then he would die in space and never see his family again. He could lose Keith so easily, and no one on the team would be nearly as optimistic now. It took so much strength for him to keep from breaking down, crying and holeing himself away and avoiding everything.

He couldn’t, though. Not now. He would take care of Keith, he had to, and he would do everything possible to give him a life worth living. An injury shouldn’t ruin someone’s life, not after what Lance has seen. Not after… “Not now, Lance. Right now is Keith time. He’s your responsibility. Just him.”

The laundry room came into view, allowing him to let out a sigh of relief. He could just worry about fixing up Keith’s room, and that’s it. One thing at a time, right? Just one step at a time, and he can make it through this.

Despite how long the castle had been vacant, there was still plenty of prime condition sheets and pillows in the laundry room for them to use, along with robes, slippers, and all sorts of paladin specific items. Lance was already very familiar with them all, loving his own robe and slippers that he got to use almost nightly.

He picked up the red versions of those, figuring it would be a nice thing for Keith to relax in. Then he got the fresh bed dressings, sighing softly as he left the room. It reminded him of when he would have to babysit his younger siblings, or help them change their sheets after an accident so their parents wouldn’t find out. Not that he expected Keith to have an accident like that, but it was similar in that he had to change his sheets and all.

Now that he thought about it, it was a little like he was taking care of a sibling. Keith was like family to him at this point, and he would probably kill whoever next tried to hurt him. It was his fault that Keith had gotten hurt in the first place, and he couldn’t let it happen again. He had a promise to keep, after all. Nothing would stop him from doing that.

Even the sight of Keith’s room, the ruined sheets and pillow still where he’d left them, didn’t discourage him. He simply tossed the sheets and pillow into the trash chute, letting them slide in before starting to get the new ones in their places.

He couldn’t stop thinking about how awful it must be for Keith now that he couldn’t see, knowing how much he relied on sight to be able to fight and fly. He had always been a loner, independent and not entirely trusting. The team’s bond had strengthened since they began, but some things don’t change so quickly. It was still hard for Keith to let himself show weakness or ask for help, even when they all knew he needed it. Without his sight, the most reliable thing he used on the daily, everything had to change.


End file.
